


dock

by worstgirl



Category: Original Work, We Know the Devil (Visual Novel)
Genre: Christian Imagery, F/F, Implied Relationships, Internalized Homophobia, Lesbians, my original characters written in the style/universe of wktd, talk of the devil, talk of vomit/tw topics, use of the q slur once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:48:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22366663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worstgirl/pseuds/worstgirl
Summary: We lay on the dock, staring at the sky like it’s the last thing on earth. There’s a droning hum in the air, but neither of us are sure if it’s the mosquitoes or the static from our radios. Whatever it is, we know it’s there and we can feel it, like our hands clasped in each others.“When we get out of here, are you going to... leave me behind?”
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Kudos: 16





	dock

The sticky heat feels like hands pulling at our skin, picking and scratching and peeling up the thin sheen of sweat. It burns like the heat of a thousand suns, but it’s only a hundred or so degrees.

We lay on the dock, staring at the sky like it’s the last thing on earth. There’s a droning hum in the air, but neither of us are sure if it’s the mosquitoes or the static from our radios. Whatever it is, we know it’s there and we can feel it, like our hands clasped in each others. Despite the heat, her hand is cold, acting like air conditioning, as if it’s the last breeze of winter in the middle of summer. She’s the chill of snow, the dream of cool days during the summer, the moments when we wonder if public humiliation is worth being just a little bit cooler. With her perfect hair and constellation freckles and tired eyes, with her petite grace and the seemingly manic desperation of her repressed emotions, she looks like a fae creature of lore.

“Heylel?” She says, her voice soft in a way that sounded like it was on the verge of snapping, on the verge of letting out all the sounds that caught in her throat and lungs.

“Hmm?” There’s a noncommittal noise from the girl on the dock next to her. She doesn’t seem to even care that the sun is directly on her face, as if her dark tan and curls are acting as sunscreen against the burning heat. She’ll regret it later, of course, when she realizes that she isn’t impervious to the sun.

“When we get out of here, are you going to… leave me behind?”

The girl on the other side of the dock, Heylel, props herself up on her elbows. “Why the hell would I do that?” She asks, as if Sera had just said the stupidest thing on the planet.

“I mean, I’d leave me behind.” Sera doesn’t look up at her. We can feel the heat getting heavier with every word that falls from her lips. “Who am I, even? Some goody-two-shoes whose parents decided wasn’t good enough?”

Heylel snorts, squeezing her hand gently. “I mean, we’re all the bad kids, huh? You’re just better than most of us.”

Sera lets out a small snort of laughter, her eyes finally slipping over to look at Heylel, at the summer sun framing her dark curls like a campfire halo. “What do you mean by that? I’m no better than anyone here.”

“Could’ve fooled me, y’know.” Heylel slips her hand away. We both feel the overwhelming heat again, the sweat sticking at our throats. “You’re the perfect one. You’re so good it almost makes me sick. I’m the screw up.”

“You’re not a screw up,” Sera says immediately, letting her arms fold over her chest, as if she needs to protect herself from whatever thoughts try to force themselves out of her heart.

“Oh, really?” Heylel snorts, letting her head fall back. “We’re here, aren’t we? We’re both screw ups. Just two queers, at a summer camp to fix us.”

“I’m not a— I’m not like that,” Sera mutters. We both know she’s lying. It’s almost palpable, tasting like bile in our mouths, vomit on our tongues, or heartburn in our throats. Lies always taste like iron and acid.

“Could’ve fooled me,” Heylel sighs, looking over at her. “You know, there’s nothing really wrong about feeling this way.”

Sera looks away, her silent disagreement hanging between us like a spider’s web, ready to trap the unsuspecting flies of truth. Neither of us speak for fear of snapping it and making the tendrils of fear drift in the thick air.

“There isn’t,” Heylel repeats, sounding a little frustrated. Sera doesn’t blame her. “Come on, you can’t believe the stuff they tell us at campfire. About the devil and all that. How one wrong move will get you snatched up by it’s claws.” She fakes a grab at Sera, miming a growl that hardly conceals her teasing grin. Sera pushes her hands away, huffing out a breath.

“You know it’s real, Heylel.” Sera protests.

“Oh, and I thought Little Miss Perfect wasn’t supposed to be here.” Heylel imitates her, making her voice higher. It was the thing she’d first said, when she’d talked to the captain about how she was here on mistake. He’d laughed in her face, telling her that it didn’t matter. She was there, and she was staying. “What are you so afraid of? If you’re so good, then you should be totally fine facing the devil. He can’t hurt you if you’re a little angel.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about him hurting.” She blurts out, and we look at each other for a moment. “You’re— you know you’re the one he’s most likely to take. Doesn’t that terrify you?”

“Inevitability doesn’t scare me, Ser.” Her voice is oddly soft, but she sighed again, sitting up. She dips her bare feet into the scummy water, letting it soak into the cuffs of her pants despite the uncomfortable sticking of fabric to skin that will happen as soon as she pulls them out. It doesn’t feel right, or nice, but it does help ground her in all its grimy, tepid glory. “We know it’s gonna be me, right? The worst girl. I know I’m a sinner, so it’s only a matter of time until the devil decides that I’ll go with him.”

“You don’t have to let it in.”

“No, I don’t. But I will.”

“I don’t want you getting hurt!”

“Being the devil doesn’t hurt, right? A lot of people say it’s freeing.” Heylel sighs, letting her eyes close. “Wouldn’t it feel nice to just let go of the pressure for once in your life? Do you really want to be cooped up with the pressure of being good all the time?”

“Yes.” It’s unclear which question she’s responding to. We both know which one we want to be the one answered, but it’s hard to tell. Even Sera isn’t sure about her own answers.

“Well, we might not even have to do this, you know. It’s only two nights left, and there’s three groups. The cabin can only hold one group at a time. And since, y’know, Theo ran off, maybe if it’s just us, then we won’t get sent.” It’s a false hope. The devil doesn’t care if there’s one messed up teen, or two, or three. Neither does the captain.

“Or, if we do, we can fight him off.”

Heylel’s hand ruffles the other girl’s hair, much in the way a person would pet a dog who keeps whining for a taste of chocolate. “Keep telling yourself that, angel.” She stands, letting her feet drip onto the dock between us, making puddles of pond scum and lukewarm water. “C’mon. We fixed the sirens ages ago, they’ll think we’re making out again if we stay away any longer.”

Sera scrambles to her feet, cheeks turning pink under her freckled cheeks. “I wouldn’t do that.” She says quickly, but she stumbles over her words enough to make it unconvincing.

Heylel shoots her a grin that seems to be holding back a sort of hopefulness.

“Whatever you say, angel.”

We take one look back at the dock, at the swarm of flies hovering above the rotting canoes, at the brown patches where the pond scum hasn’t entirely covered the water, and for a moment, we feel him, urging our hands towards each other. Then Sera turns, making her way up the path to the camp, and we’re left feeling a kind of emptiness that not even the devil can fill.

**Author's Note:**

> hey!! if ur reading this, i’m so happy you did!! i know not many people read original works
> 
> this was for a creative writing project i did in school!! i was supposed to experiment, and i’ve always been intrigued with wktd’s writing style and wanted to try it out, especially since it fits these characters so well. if you want more of these characters, i have other works in my published with them (progress and belief) in their canon universe!!
> 
> stay safe, and stay wonderful, loves!!
> 
> ~percy


End file.
